Unprepared South Slammed By Worst Snow And Ice In A Generation

Schools closed, hundreds of flights were scrapped and cities blew the dust off the few snowplows they have Tuesday as the Deep South hunkered down for what could be its worst snow and ice in a generation.

From Texas to the Carolinas, almost 40 million people are in the storm’s path.

“This is a very dangerous situation,” said Robert Latham, the head of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. “We need everyone to have an emergency plan together for this.”

Columbia, S.C., a city of 130,000 people with only eight snowplows, was expecting up to 4 inches of snow. The city put emergency workers on 12-hour shifts and mixed up sand, salt and brine to put on the city’s major roadways as the weather got worse.